Zachary Taylor: Brief

扎卡里·泰勒：短暂

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音介绍美国总统栏目。

Today we are talking about Zachary Taylor, the 12^th president. He took office in 1849.
今天，我们来谈论下第12届总统扎卡里·泰勒，他在1849年执政。

Taylor had some things in common with earlier presidents.
泰勒和早期的几个总统有共同之处。

Like six others before him, he was born in Virginia.
他和在他之前的六位总统一样，出生于弗吉尼亚州。

Like George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Taylor was a war hero.
泰勒和乔治·华盛顿以及安德鲁·杰克逊一样，是一位战争英雄。

And, like William Henry Harrison, he died in office.
并且，与威廉·亨利·哈里森一样，在任内逝世。

But Taylor brought at least one special trait to the presidency. Although he was officially elected as a member of the Whig party, Taylor considered himself an independent.
但是，泰勒至少给总统职位带来了一个特点。尽管泰勒是作为辉格党的成员而被官方选举的，但他将自己看作是独立的。

Early life 早期生活

When Zachary Taylor was a baby, his family left Virginia. They moved west, to a tobacco plantation in Kentucky.
当扎卡里·泰勒还是个婴儿的时候，他的一家离开了弗吉尼亚，去往西方的肯塔基州的烟草种植园。

There, the Taylors were financially successful. By the time Zachary was a young man, his family owned a number of enslaved people and over 4,000 hectares of land.
在肯塔基，泰勒家族开始发迹。扎卡里还年轻的时候，家族就拥有了一些奴隶以及超过4000公顷的土地。

Taylor took possession of some of his family’s land. He also had cotton plantations in the southern states of Mississippi and Louisiana. He, too, depended on enslaved people to do most of the work.
泰勒继承了家族的一些土地。他还在南部密西西比和路易斯安那州拥有棉花种植园，大部分劳动都是靠奴隶来做的。

But Taylor was unlike many wealthy farmers in the South. He had always wanted to be a soldier. When Taylor was 24 years old, he became an officer in the U.S. Army.
但泰勒不像大部分南方的富农，他总是想成为一名战士。24岁的时候，他成为了一名美军军官。

Shortly after, he married Margaret Smith. In time, they had five daughters and one son. But Taylor directed most of his attention to his military career.
不久，他和玛格丽特·史密斯结婚了。最终，他们共生了5个女儿和1个儿子。但泰勒大部分精力都放在他的军事生涯上。

For about 20 years, he tried to keep peace between Native American tribes and white Americans. Sometimes the job meant leading attacks against Native Americans. At times, it meant defending their lands from white settlers.
大约20年的时间里，他努力维持印第安部落和白人之间的和平。这份工作意味着有时会和印第安人发生冲突，有时需要保护白人定居者的土地。

In either case, his public standing as a good soldier grew. His troops called him “Old Rough and Ready” because he was willing to fight – and suffer – alongside them.
无论哪种情况，他作为好军人的公众形象都在增长。他的部下称他为“机灵的大老粗”，因为他愿意和他们一起作战吃苦。

Then, in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, Taylor became really famous. He led U.S. troops to victory in several major battles, including ones at Monterrey and Buena Vista.
19世纪40年代的美墨战争，使泰勒名声大振。他在几个重要的战役中领导了美军获得胜利，包括在蒙特雷和布埃纳维斯塔。

In a well-known story, the powerful Mexican general Santa Anna surrounded Taylor and his small number of troops. Santa Anna sent a message demanding that they surrender. Taylor reportedly said: “Tell him to go to hell”
在一则著名的故事当中，墨西哥强权总统桑塔·安纳包围了泰勒及他的小部队（4/5 受过锻炼的部队及战争物资被调归斯科特将军使用）。桑塔·安纳发信要求泰勒投降，泰勒回复说：“告诉他去死吧。”

The two sides clashed the next morning. Santa Anna had about three times the men that Taylor had. Yet, by late that day, Taylor’s soldiers had defeated Santa Anna’s.
两军次日早晨交战。桑塔·安纳的人马是泰勒的三倍。然而到了晚上，泰勒的士兵已经击败了桑塔·安纳。

Taylor’s success as a general helped the United States win the war against Mexico. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico agreed to give up claims to or sell to the U.S. more than 1.3 million square kilometers of its lands, including what are now the states of Texas and California.
泰勒将军的成功帮助美国赢得了美墨战争。在瓜达卢佩伊达戈条约中，墨西哥同意放弃对美国的主权要求，将其130万平方公里的土地卖给美国，包括如今的德克萨斯和加利福利亚州。

But the new lands almost immediately caused problems.
但新土地几乎很快就引起了问题。

Campaign of 1848 1848年大选

At the time of the next U.S. presidential election, public opinion in the country was severely divided. The issue was whether to permit slavery in the new lands won at the end of the war with Mexico.
适逢下届美国总统大选时，国内舆论被严重地分成了两派。焦点在于是否允许在美墨战争中获得的新土地上蓄奴。

In general, Northerners opposed expanding slavery.
通常，北方人反对扩大蓄奴。

In general, Southerners supported it.
而南方人支持蓄奴。

To appeal to both these groups, the major parties at the time looked to Taylor to be their candidate for president.
为了吸引这两个团体，当时主要的政党看中了泰勒来作为他们党派的总统候选人。

The Democrats and the Whigs reasoned that Taylor was already well-known and well-liked. Historian Michael Holt said in 1848, Taylor was “the most popular man in America.”
民主党和辉格党的理由是泰勒已经很有名，很受欢迎。历史学家迈克尔·霍尔特说，1848年泰勒是“全美最受欢迎的人”。

But Taylor was not really political. He called himself an independent. He shared some beliefs with both major parties at the time. But mostly he wanted to keep the nation together.
但泰勒并不是真正的政治人物。他自称是独立人士。当时，他与两个主要政党分享了一些信念。但他主要还是想让国家团结在一起。

In the end, he agreed to be the candidate of the Whig Party. During the campaign, he did not take a stand on any of the major issues. His fame as a military general carried him into the White House.
最终，他同意作为辉格党的候选人。竞选期间，他没有在任何主要问题上表达立场。将军的名望将他带进了白宫。

Presidency 总统任期

The truth was that Taylor did have an opinion on slavery: He did not want to expand it, especially in areas that did not support cotton or sugar farms.
事实上，泰勒对蓄奴确实有自己的想法：他不想扩大它，尤其是在不支持棉花和糖厂的区域。

So, once in office, he proposed a change to the rules about how new territories would become states. The change would let white, American, male settlers in California and New Mexico decide whether they wanted slavery. Then, those areas could enter the Union immediately as states.
所以，他一上任就提议修改新土地如何成为州（加入联邦）的规则。此项修改是让加利福利亚和新墨西哥的白人，印第安人，男性定居者来决定他们是否想要蓄奴。然后，这些区域再迅速加入联邦成为州。

Taylor aimed to quiet the debate about slavery. But his idea angered almost everybody.
泰勒想要平息关于奴隶制的争论，但是他的想法几乎激怒了所有人。

Some U.S. lawmakers believed the president had cut them out of the decision.
一些美国议员认为，总统已经篡夺了他们的决策特权。

Northerners said Taylor’s proposal did not go far enough: It did not solve some of the other issues related to slavery.
北方人认为，泰勒的提议还远远不够：它没有解决一些其他奴隶制的相关问题。

And Southerners realized that settlers in California and New Mexico would almost surely reject slavery, and give free states a majority in Congress.
南方人认为，加利福利亚和新墨西哥的定居者几乎肯定是反对奴隶制的，这样国会的自由州会占多数。

In one dramatic incident, some South Carolina officials called a meeting to discuss withdrawing from the Union. In answer, Taylor threatened to hang them.
一则著名的事件是，一些南卡罗莱纳州的官员组织了一个会议来讨论从联邦分离。作为回应，泰勒威胁要绞死他们。

But before Taylor or his idea could get too far, the president became sick.
但在泰勒的想法还没走多远之前，他就病倒了。

The story is that he attended outdoor celebrations to mark the nation’s birthday, July 4. Then he went for a walk. The weather was very hot. To cool off, Taylor ate uncooked fruit and drank iced milk.
事情是这样的，（1850年）7月4日，泰勒出席了户外举行的独立纪念日的庆祝活动。然后，他顶着炎热去散步。为了降温，泰勒吃了生水果，喝了一壶冰牛奶。

That night he told others about pain in his stomach. Five days later, he was dead.
当晚，他告诉其他人他的胃部疼痛。五天后，他就去世了。

His doctor wrote that Taylor died of cholera morbus -- a general term for severe digestive problems.
他的医生写道，泰勒死于霍乱 — 严重消化问题的通用术语。

A few people thought he might have been poisoned. The suspicion remained until 1991, when medical officials examined Taylor’s remains. They confirmed that he died of natural causes.
一些人认为泰勒可能是被下毒致死。疑团一直持续到1991年，医疗官员检查了泰勒的遗骸，他们确认泰勒死于自然原因。

A more recent study offers more details. Jane McHugh and Philip A. Mackowiak say that Taylor was a victim of the same problem that killed presidents William Henry Harrison and James Polk: dirty water in the White House.
最近的一项研究提供了更多的细节。简·麦克休和菲利普·A.·麦考维克认为，泰勒和威廉·亨利·哈里森以及詹姆斯·波尔克总统都是死于同样的原因：白宫的污染水源。

Legacy 遗产

Taylor’s death, while unfortunate, did not cause a political crisis. John Tyler had already established the rule that, if a president dies in office, the vice president becomes president.
泰勒的死，虽然很不幸，但没有引起政治危机。约翰·泰勒已经建立了总统任内去世，副总统继任总统的规则。

But Taylor’s death did likely change the direction of history. His replacement, Millard Fillmore, did not try to hold the Union together by force. Instead, he joined with politicians who wanted to compromise on the issue.
但是泰勒的死确实很可能改变了历史的方向。他的继任者，米勒德·菲尔莫尔，并没有试图去以武力保持联邦统一。相反，在这个问题上他选择了妥协。

The compromise legislation delayed but did not really settle the debate. In time, the division between North and South led to the American Civil War.
妥协法案仅仅是延迟但并没有真正解决问题。最终，南北分裂导致了美国内战。

And members of Taylor’s own family became linked to the states that withdrew from the Union.
泰勒自己的家庭成员与脱离联邦的诸州有关联。

One of his daughters had married Jefferson Davis, who became the president of the Confederacy.
他的一个女儿与杰斐逊·戴维斯结婚，杰斐逊是美利坚联盟国的总统。

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Words in This Story

trait - n. a quality that makes one person or thing different from another - 特性

plantation - n. a large area of land especially in a hot part of the world where crops (such as cotton) are grown - 种植园，尤其是热带种植农作物（如棉花）的地方。

Old Rough and Ready - 老而弥坚，准备有素；机灵的大老粗；精悍的老粗 ；顶用的大老粗

hell - n. the place where the devil lives and where evil people go after they die according to some religions; "go to hell" is an informal, impolite expression used to show that you are very angry with someone - 地狱

public opinion - 民意；公众舆论

take a stand - 表态；采取立场；表明立场

cut out of - 夺走；从......裁出

dramatic - adj. greatly affecting people's emotions - 戏剧性的；引人注目的

cholera morbus - 霍乱病； cholera - n. [内科] 霍乱；morbus - n.疾病